Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam: Daniel Arsham, Shen Wei, Erwin Olaf, Vincent Zanni
Daniel Arsham (USA) 1980 (images 1-3)
Galerie Ron Mandos is excited to showcase Daniel Arsham’s photography for the first time in the Netherlands! His photographic practice reflects the themes found in his broader oeuvre, such as the erosion of time and the fusion of past and present. His images evoke a sense of nostalgia, perfectly aligning with his larger body of work.
Shen Wei (China/ USA) 1977 (images 4-6)
Shen Wei is known for his introspective portraits that explore identity and intimacy. His photography captures the raw emotional vulnerability of his subjects, often emphasizing self-reflection and human connection. Deeply personal yet universally resonant, his work invites viewers into intimate moments that bridge the gap between artist and subject.
Erwin Olaf (The Netherlands) 1959–2023 (images 7-9)
The late Erwin Olaf’s “Palm Springs” series is also featured, displaying his signature cinematic style that dissects 1960s American leisure culture. Known for his highly stylized and meticulously composed imagery, this series offers both a nostalgic homage and a critical exploration of American ideals.(10-12)
Vincent Zanni (Switzerland) 1995 .(10-12)
Winner of the 2023 RM Photo Talent Award, Vincent Zanni revitalizes mid-19th century oil-print techniques in his work. By blending historical processes with contemporary themes, Zanni pushes the boundaries of both technique and narrative, creating a fascinating intersection of past and present.
Galerie Ron Mandos
1016 HJ Amsterdam
www.ronmandos.nl
Galerie Wilms, Venlo: Brooke DiDonato, Julie van der Vaart , Suzanne Jongmans , Lisanne Hoogerwerf
Brooke DiDonato (USA) 1990 (images 13-15)
At Unseen you can view for the first time the oeuvre of Brooke DiDonato After studying photojournalism, DiDonato began developing a body of personal work questioning the notion of realism induced by the photographic medium. Her images propose scenes of everyday life distorted by visual anomalies. Extreme landscapes and domestic spaces stand in for the subconscious mind while bizarre scenarios call into question the boundaries of reality.
Tiptoeing between reality and fantasy, photographer Brooke DiDonato’s images are unfolding stories that viewers find themselves in the middle of. Seeped in pastel colours, often featuring flowers or set in domestic settings, DiDonato’s photographs are nevertheless neither soothing nor uplifting, as there’s always something a little out of kilter, some minor inconsistency or dream-like bizarreness that subtly brings out the uncanny out of the banal. Exploring narratives about vulnerability, instability and self-destruction, her images challenge human perception: Rather than asking viewers to distinguish between fact and fiction, they urge them instead to merge them into a story of personal reflection.
“I like subverting the ordinary,” says DiDonato. “I think one of my favourite comments I’ve started receiving on my work in more recent years is, ‘I can’t figure out what’s going on here.’ I love that, because universal things like an empty field or a human body are transformed into something the viewer has to dissect a bit longer.”
Julie van der Vaart (The Netherlands) 1988 (images 16-18)
“Julie van der Vaart’s previous works such as ‘the dance’ revolved around the constant association of atoms into life, and the subsequent dissociation of them into something else entirely. Everything is in a state of becoming, and therefore connected to everything in some way. But when connections are broken and turn into something else, does part of those connections remain?
‘Entangled’ is a series of photographic cyanotypes that attempts to answer this question. Two human bodies, their connection eternalised despite their inevitable separation in real life. The observer, unknowingly interweaving part of themselves with the corporeal work by simply looking. And the artist, unavoidably intertwined with both.”
Suzanne Jongmans (The Netherlands) 1978 (image 19)
In the new series of works by Suzanne Jongmans, she reuses copper obtained from old transformers. The copper coils come from discarded electric motors from household appliances and fuses. The internals are mostly the same. At the core of the device, there at its deepest; is the copper. The most essential component for the operation of the device; it conducts the current that is generated.
The copper derived from the coils is gossamer, she uses it in her latest work in the hairstyles and hairpieces for the people she portrays. By intuitively shaping it on the head of a mannequin, historical hairstyles appeared under her hands. This created associations with medieval poet Hadewijch and Joan of Arc among others. Women who felt strong connection with spirituality and had a personal connection with the divine.
Since the enlightenment, reason has been glorified and the western tendency towards modernisation and mechanisation has increased. The significance of myths and imagination in our daily lives seems to have been lost, or at least relegated to the background. The question arises; how do contemplation and reflection find their way in the present day?
Lisanne Hoogerwerf (The Netherlands) 1987 (images 20-22)
As a visual artist, I explore the connection with inspiration and the power of imagination. The ability to see unusual connections, which feels both spiritual and earthly. I portray human beings in relation to both the immaterial and material world and place them at the intersection between the two. Man as the recipient of cosmic energy in a human body, the transformer into matter”
The artworks of Lisanne Hoogerwerf depict real – unreal places: places that you can’t find in ordinary reality, but that are made with real materials like pieces of wood, sand, glue, and painted canvas. She creates her art as a way to visualise inner and outer human landscapes. Working mainly from imagination, she wants to lay hold on an archetypal language.
Hoogerwerfs studio floor functions as a stage upon which she build, capture, and deconstruct her landscapes. With her scenes, she often refers to global developments, like the pandemic, the climate crisis and environmental issues. The scenes are emptied of the hustle and bustle of everyday life: no traffic or crowded cityscapes to be seen. Contrasting characteristics and elements can be linked to her work, such as: utopian/dystopian, playfulness/seriousness, society/nature, beauty/drabness.
Galerie Wilms
5911 JV Venlo
www.galeriewilms.nl
ROOF-A Rotterdam: Sjoerd Knibbeler, Daan Zuijderwijk, Marjan Teeuwen
Sjoerd Knibbeler (The Netherlands) 1981 PASSANTEN (images 23-25)
Sjoerd Knibbeler is a contemporary artist who lives and works in the Netherlands. His artworks are presented both nationally and internationally. About his is new series ‘Passanten’ Raphaëlle Stopin said “The absent image that he seeks to bring into the world is that of a present that leaves its marks everywhere, but hides from our eyes. These totems will make us remember it, they aren’t ruins of past cataclysms, but companions of a shared present that must be faced head-on.” ‘
Daan Zuijderwijk (The Netherlands) 1974: Parallel’ (images 26-27)
The series ‘Parallel’ by visual artist Daan Zuijderwijk consists of photographs and sculptures. The photographs show projections Zuijderwijk projects at night on rock formations in various places in Europe. Zuijderwijk has been travelling around Europe with his family since 2017. That nomadic life began as a search for a new life closer to nature. For him, it has since become a voyage of discovery into a new era, one where humans are no longer all-determining, but where cooperation is central. The sculptures consist of material he collected during his travels. They are pieces of driftwood shaped by the elements, reindeer antlers obtained after encounters with Sami communities, or pieces of wood with a special shape or meaning. They do not only reflect his nomadic life, but they are also the result of the symbiosis between artist and nature.
Marjan Teeuwen (The Netherlands) 1953 Verwoest Huis Brutus (images 28-29)
Marjan Teeuwen makes sculptures of discarded buildings at home and abroad under the title Verwoest Huis (Destroyed Structure). This project is the 11th architectural installation It is the playground Brutus, where Marjan Teeuwen realised her installation in an ‘unexplored’, once bricked-up space, almost completely cut off from the outside world and without daylight. The result is a brutalist installation, in which two uneven squares attempt to get into a more perfect position. Like a phoenix, which attempts to assume a geometric form, but succeeds only partially and also only for a brief moment. An abstract minimalist rhythm, in which the sense of both order, regularity and beauty, and insecurity, disruption and destruction is palpable.
Teeuwen has worked previously in Rotterdam-Zuid and Amsterdam-Noord, as well as in politically sensitive areas across the border: from Siberia to Gaza.
ROOF-A
3016 BM | Rotterdam
www.roof-a.com
